CentreBC candidate for MLA in Esquimalt-Colwood. He is the sitting mayor of View Royal and is not seeking another term as mayor.
Sid Tobias is the CentreBC candidate in Esquimalt-Colwood. He was elected mayor of View Royal in 2022, sits on the Capital Regional District board for the town, and is not one of the five mayoral candidates in the civic election of October 17, 2026. Darlene Rotchford of the BC NDP won the district in 2024 with 15,238 votes (51.47 percent). His campaign page says he served nearly 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and more than a decade in the BC Public Service, and lists housing, health care, transportation, infrastructure and affordability as priorities. As mayor he made public statements in 2025 and 2026 against provincial housing laws and the use of non-disclosure agreements in consultation. voche.me found no platform of his own for this campaign on 2026-10-03.
Researched by voche.me · Not a campaign-authored page
A researched record of Sid Tobias’s candidacy in Esquimalt-Colwood. Elections BC lists him with the affiliation CentreBC. He is the sitting mayor of View Royal. His campaign priorities come from one CentreBC page, and his public record comes from his statements and town decisions as mayor.
No public appearance by the candidate in the provincial campaign was confirmed on 2026-10-03. The two voting dates come from Elections BC.
Checked October 3, 2026 · All event times are Pacific time. Recheck the organizer before travelling.
At official British Columbia voting places. These dates apply to every voter and are not candidate appearances. Find your voting place
On dates without a confirmed appearance the public schedule is unknown; the candidate may still have activities that day. This static page changes only when its research is updated.
Elections BC lists Sid Tobias as the CentreBC candidate in Esquimalt-Colwood. The list stamped October 3, 2026 11:00:07 AM shows four accepted nominations in the district: Sidney Coles of the BC Green Party, Dave Johnston of the Conservative Party, Darlene Rotchford of the BC NDP and Sid Tobias of CentreBC. Candidate nominations close at 1 p.m. (Pacific time) on October 3, 2026, so more names may be added.
Darlene Rotchford won the district in 2024 with 15,238 votes (51.47 percent), according to Elections BC’s statement of votes. John Wilson of the Conservative Party received 8,652 votes (29.22 percent) and Camille Currie of the BC Green Party 5,716 (19.31 percent). A search of that statement for the surname Tobias found no match. Wikipedia describes the district as made up of Colwood, View Royal, Esquimalt and the Victoria West neighbourhood.
The Town of View Royal says he was first elected mayor in 2022, and its page lists him as the town’s representative on the Capital Regional District board, the hospital board and the Housing Trust Fund Commission. The Capital Regional District lists him as View Royal’s director, with John Rogers as alternate. In October 2025 he told council he would not run again, and the Times Colonist reported that he said one four-year term was enough. The Times Colonist of September 22, 2026 lists five mayoral candidates in View Royal for the October 17 civic election, and he is not one of them.
The campaign page says he was born in Esquimalt, served nearly 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces and then worked more than a decade in the BC Public Service. The Town of View Royal describes the same career in its own words: over 24 years in the Royal Canadian Navy, retiring as a Chief Petty Officer First Class, and a public servant with the Government of British Columbia since 2015, now Director of Digital Services at the Environmental Assessment Office. These are descriptions by the campaign and by the town. voche.me has not checked them with the Department of National Defence, the BC Public Service or the university.
As mayor he made statements on provincial housing laws. In May 2025 the town published his statement on Bills 15 and 7, and in December 2025 View Royal invited other councils to join a court review of five provincial housing bills. voche.me has not contacted the campaign. Where this page quotes him, the quote comes from a page voche.me opened and archived on 2026-10-03.
Published positions and selected commitments, separated by election cycle. Status labels describe the evidence reviewed, not a numerical score or a complete audit of the platform. Council approval is different from delivery.
5 commitments shown · Checked Oct 3
The CentreBC page about him says his priorities include housing.
The CentreBC page about him says his priorities include health care.
The CentreBC page about him says his priorities include transportation and infrastructure.
The CentreBC page about him says his priorities include affordability.
The CentreBC page about him says he believes British Columbia needs stable, practical and collaborative government focused on delivering results, with governments working together.
He has been mayor of View Royal since 2022. The entries below come from the town’s releases and news reports. The council minutes were not opened, so no recorded council vote is attributed to him. He appears in neither the legislature member list nor the legislature standings file that voche.me holds for this election, so no legislature speech or vote record exists to review.
The Town of View Royal says council adopted its new official community plan, a 20-year plan for land use, housing, transportation, parks and other subjects. The town release does not name the mayor. In December 2025 he told the Goldstream News Gazette that updating the plan was a priority of residents, council and staff that year. The campaign page says he advanced the first full update since 2011.
A town decision. voche.me did not open the council minutes, so no recorded vote is attributed to him.
The town says it signed a partnering agreement with Aroga Lifestyle Medicine Victoria Ltd. for a clinic in Eagle Creek Village. The town will pay $225,000 once and $125,000 a year for 10 years. Aroga would attach at least 750 View Royal residents to primary care in the first year and 1,600 by the end of the second. The release quotes Tobias.
A municipal agreement. The town says the clinic is operated by Aroga and not by the town, and that health care is not traditionally a municipal responsibility.
CHEK News reports that a new ambulance station staffed by full-time BC Emergency Health Services paramedics will open at an annex of the Public Safety Building. It quotes Tobias saying an ambulance will once again be stationed in View Royal after more than 30 years.
The report credits the View Royal fire chief and the provincial ambulance service with the work. The campaign page says he helped re-establish the station. voche.me found no source that describes his own part.
The town says its council authorized the mayor and the chief administrative officer to explore a coordinated judicial review of Bills 44, 47, 13, 15 and M216 and to invite other municipalities to join. A judicial review is a court case that asks whether a government acted within its legal limits. CityHallWatch reported on 2026-02-08 that Oak Bay and the Regional District of North Okanagan with its municipalities had signed on.
The invitation is a town release. The CityHallWatch list of signatories is the site’s own account and voche.me did not check it with those councils.
Read original statements and reporting, or open the publisher’s video. A summary of a speech is labelled separately from a full recording.
In a town release he said the two bills “centralize power, strip local governments of decision-making authority, and diminish public accountability.” He called on Premier Eby to end the use of non-disclosure agreements in public consultation and likened what he described to trends seen under the Trump administration. The release says View Royal council voted unanimously to support the release.
Global News reports that he said relations with the BC NDP were at a historic low and that cabinet “has isolated itself from any input.” He called the parking changes in the small-scale housing rules “troublesome.” Housing Minister Christine Boyle told Global News that non-disclosure agreements allow a frank conversation and are needed for policies with commercial impacts.
He named the official community plan, the urban forest strategy, the cost of 911 dispatch, a new RCMP building on the West Shore and access to primary care as council priorities, and described the town’s relationship with the Province as at a historic low.
In an article posted by CityHallWatch he wrote that increasing supply can help and that affordability depends on several factors, including land values, investor demand, incomes, financing and the type of housing built. He wrote that a judicial review is “simply the mechanism to verify that the current path still meets those standards.”
In the town release he said health care may not traditionally be a municipal responsibility, but important changes in Canadian health care began when local communities chose to act.
Records are labelled by type, including official findings, civil proceedings and political disputes where applicable. Each entry identifies the response found in the sources and the latest status verified for this page.
No reviewed entries have been added to this section yet. This is a research gap, not a finding about the candidate.
A dated reading list from independent publishers. The headings below are voche.me summaries; follow each link for the original article, context and any corrections.
A running list of candidates by district. When read on 2026-10-03, it named him for CentreBC in Esquimalt-Colwood, beside Sidney Coles of the BC Green Party, Dave Johnston of the Conservative Party and Darlene Rotchford of the BC NDP, the incumbent. It gives no other detail about him.
Reports that he said one four-year term was enough, that he announced it at a council meeting early enough to encourage others to step forward, and that he wants to earn a PhD and pursue consulting in information technology.
Reports his remarks at the October 14 council meeting on relations with the BC NDP government, and carries the Housing Minister’s reply on non-disclosure agreements.
Describes him as the outgoing mayor and a self-described reluctant politician who ran in 2022 to prevent an acclamation, and says he is not among the five 2026 mayoral candidates.
Year-end interview with the mayor on council priorities for 2025 and 2026.
Sources checked October 3, 2026. Official records establish decisions; campaign material establishes stated positions; reporting adds investigation and context. None alone establishes every claim.
Elections BC
Elections BC
Elections BC
Town of View Royal
Capital Regional District
Department of National Defence
Town of View Royal · May 14, 2025
Town of View Royal · December 8, 2025
Town of View Royal · September 14, 2026
Town of View Royal · September 3, 2026
Town of View Royal
CentreBC
CentreBC
CentreBC
CentreBC
CentreBC
CHEK News · September 24, 2026
Goldstream News Gazette · September 15, 2026
Global News · October 21, 2025
CityHallWatch · February 8, 2026
Times Colonist · October 29, 2025
Victoria News · November 14, 2025
Times Colonist · September 22, 2026
Times Colonist · October 1, 2022
Times Colonist
Goldstream News Gazette · December 25, 2025
Wikipedia
No campaign website of his own for the provincial campaign was found on 2026-10-03. The website listed in his 2022 mayoral profile, sidtobiasviewroyal.com, did not answer, and the X, Instagram and Facebook addresses in that profile could not be read. CentreBC has published no full platform: its policy page says its Policy Committee is still developing its first policy areas. No party news release to September 23, 2026 on the party news page names him. The Meritorious Service Medal citation of 2011 is for David Sidney Tobias. No page voche.me read gives the legal first names of Sid Tobias, so the link between the two names is an open question for a person to settle. The campaign page says he worked on efforts about the future of the E&N rail corridor and helped re-establish an ambulance station, and voche.me has not found a source that describes his own part in either. The 2022 mayoral vote count, the View Royal council minutes and recorded votes, the date his provincial public service role ended or continues, and his degree were not checked. All-candidates meetings in the district, campaign finances and endorsements were not found on this date. The questionnaire has not been sent. Nominations close October 3, 2026 at 1 p.m., so other candidates may still be added.
Evidence reviewed on 2026-10-03: the Elections BC candidate list and key dates page, the 2024 statement of votes, the CentreBC candidate, team, policy, news and home pages, the Town of View Royal pages on its mayor, his statements, the 2026 candidates, the official community plan and the primary care clinic, the Capital Regional District director page, a National Defence list of Meritorious Service Medal citations, reporting by the Times Colonist, Global News, CHEK News and the Goldstream News Gazette, a CityHallWatch post carrying his signed article, and web searches for his name with the district, the party, View Royal and 2026.
His campaign positions on this page come from one CentreBC candidate page, which gives no cost, number or date. His public record comes from his years as mayor. The View Royal council minutes and recorded votes were not opened, and his social media accounts could not be read. An empty section records what voche.me did not find on this date.
The Town of View Royal says he was first elected mayor in 2022 and is its fifth mayor. It lists him as chair of the Finance and Administration Committee of the Committee of the Whole. The Times Colonist reported in October 2025 that he beat long-time mayor David Screech at the last election, and that he will not run again in 2026.
Town of View Royal, Meet the Mayor and CouncilThe Capital Regional District lists him as director for View Royal in his position as mayor, with John Rogers as alternate director.
Capital Regional District, director pageThe Town of View Royal says he served on this committee in 2015 and was nominated chair in 2016. His own answer in the Times Colonist 2022 candidate profile gives the same account and says he finished as chair to make space for other voices.
Times Colonist, Sid Tobias, View Royal mayor candidate 2022The Town of View Royal says he has been a public servant with the Government of British Columbia since 2015 and describes this role in the present tense. The campaign page says he worked more than a decade in the BC Public Service. voche.me has not checked the role or its dates with the provincial government.
Town of View Royal, Meet the Mayor and CouncilThe Town of View Royal says he served over 24 years and retired as a Chief Petty Officer First Class Naval Combat Information Operator. The campaign page says nearly 25 years in the Canadian Armed Forces. A National Defence publication lists a Meritorious Service Medal citation of 12 August 2011 for Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class David Sidney Tobias, CD, about the data link picture for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The citation matches the medal and the work described on the campaign and town pages. No page voche.me read states that Sid Tobias and David Sidney Tobias are one person.
National Defence, The Meritorious Service Medal 1991-2016Stated by the Town of View Royal, which also lists a graduate diploma in knowledge management. voche.me has not checked this with the university.
Town of View Royal, Meet the Mayor and CouncilProposed questions for a future interview. They have not been sent to the candidate, and no answers have been supplied.
No response has been submitted.
No response has been submitted.
No response has been submitted.
Ask Sid Tobias directly. We send it to the campaign, and publish the reply here if we get one.
Facts voche.me can state about Sid Tobias's page itself, answered directly rather than left blank.
No. This page is researched by voche.me from public sources, listed below, and is separate from Sid Tobias's own campaign.
Sid Tobias is running for MLA with Centre BC.
Yes. Sid Tobias currently serves as Mayor of View Royal and the town’s director on the Capital Regional District board.
This profile lists 5 sourced references, each with the date voche.me checked it, in the Sources section below.
The "Questions & answers" section on this page lists questions voche.me would put to Sid Tobias in a future interview. They have not been sent yet, so the page says plainly that no answer has been supplied instead of leaving the section blank.
The 2026 British Columbia election, including the MLA race, is decided on October 24, 2026.
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